A taste of New Orleans

Thursday

Jan 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

TUSCALOOSA | A new restaurant with a touch of New Orleans-style food will open next month near the University of Alabama campus.

By Patrick RupinskiStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | A new restaurant with a touch of New Orleans-style food will open next month near the University of Alabama campus.Burger U at 1014 Seventh Ave., just off Paul W. Bryant Drive, is expected to open on Feb. 11 or Feb. 18, said its owner Dan Robinson. Though its name suggests hamburgers, Robinson said the menu will feature a lot more. The restaurant will have po’ boys, sandwiches, appetizers, salads and desserts, which will be available for indoor and outdoor patio dining and take-out, he said. It also will carry crayfish, Patton’s hot sausage from New Orleans and fresh bread baked from New Orleans.It won’t be a New Orleans restaurant, but it will have a number of items that will appeal to those who like New Orleans food, he said.The restaurant also will serve mixed drinks, frozen drinks and a selection of about 50 bottled beers and house wines, Robinson said. Burger U will have large flat-screen TVs for viewing sporting events. He said he believes a location adjacent to the campus will help attract UA students, staff and visitors, but he said the restaurant will be family-friendly and that he hopes it will attract people from throughout the area.Robinson is native New Yorker who landed up in New Orleans, where he owned a restaurant called Storyville in the French Quarter for six-and-a-half years. He said after he closed that restaurant, he decided to open a restaurant near the campus of a large university.He initially thought of Tulane University in New Orleans, but said he could not find a good location there. “I didn’t care that much for Baton Rouge (home of LSU), but started to look at other SEC schools.” He said he visited Tuscaloosa several times, liked the town and found a the spot near campus.“We are not a chain or franchise,” he said. “There is only one Burger U.”Robinson said he is getting the restaurant ready for opening and plans to have a pre-opening preview party for the Super Bowl on Feb. 3. The official opening likely will be a week or two later, he said..He said Burger U will have 15 to 18 full- and part-time employees.On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant will open at 11 a.m. and close at 2 a.m. Sundays through Wednesdays, it plans to be open from 11 a.m. until midnight.

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